Chart of words known better by men than women, and vice versa

FIFY

A boatswain (/ˈboʊsən/ BOH-sən, formerly and dialectally also /ˈboʊtsweɪn/ BOHT-swayn), bo’s’n, bos’n, or bosun, also known as a petty officer, deck boss, or a qualified member of the deck department.

18 Likes

HA HA HA HA! You Win!

8 Likes

You are correct, but it’s still considered one of the definitions of the word.

If you disagree you can take that up with The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language

boson

bō′sŏn

noun

  1. Any of a class of particles, including photons, mesons, or alpha particles, that have integral spins and do not obey the exclusion principle, so that any number of identical particles may occupy the same quantum state.
  2. A bolt for the crossbow, having a round knob at the end, with a small point projecting from it.
  3. A corruption of boatswain, representing its common pronunciation.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

4 Likes

Not so simple.
Screen Shot 67

Haven’t read it.

3 Likes

Star Trek monster gif,

Monster? You mean Quark? Ferengi are aliens, and capitalists, but hardly monsters!

16 Likes

As a bonus for the commentors who enjoy the opportunity to post that Star Trek monster gif, the study calls women “female participants” and men "male participants

tumblr_nsmxfqI3bd1qkko3bo1_400

29 Likes

Higgs Boson Walks Into a Church, Mass

27 Likes

Moi8Rpr

Star Trek GIF

31 Likes

you can get the raw data here OSF | English_Word_Prevalences.xlsx
the person who made the graph also made some choices

5 Likes

50% of men know the definition of femtosecond? This definitely is not a random sample.

13 Likes

22 Likes

Lets see
Taffeta - one of the characters from Wreck-It Ralph
Bandeau - a tribute band of spandeau ballet
Damask - of Zorro?
Chambray - actor who played Paul Atreides
Kohl - Helmut?
Tulle - make sports equipment and bike racks
Chenille - musician, usually paired with a captain

That was easy

44 Likes

Even if I couldn’t exactly define all of the words, I knew the majority of them well enough through context to have a reasonable clue about their meanings. The only one I was completely unfamiliar with was pessary… and I’m a woman. :woman_shrugging:

It helps that I’ve been a voracious reader since I was smol. My father was an electrical engineer and very fond of WWII movies, so I’m fairly sure I picked up the aviation and electrical lingo from him.

25 Likes

50% of the men responding to this survey claimed to know the definition of femtosecond, or at least to know the word, which I guess really isn’t quite the same thing.

22 Likes

Apparently Kohl is a form of eye makeup.

3 Likes

Ah, but boson is a subatomic particle, not a naval position. Unless, as @lava points out, you allow for corruption, in which case, anything goes, I guess! :wink:

13 Likes

Oops. And I even edited the comment to remove the other place I wrote females…

Its A Trap Movie GIF by Star Wars

7 Likes

Also a really crappy department store

13 Likes

I thought Kohls were pioneers of Cryptocurrency in the form Kohls Cash.

7 Likes

Bosuns in the Royal Navy were officers, until (I think) a few years after WW2. Warrant officers rather than commissioned, but officers nonetheless.

9 Likes